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Thursday, October 27, 2016

20 Chrome Extensions, Web Apps, and Add-ons for Math

As awesome as Google tools are for students, teachers, and schools, sometimes they can lack a feature or tool you need for your specific subject area. A common area for this concern is in mathematics. Math teachers may sometimes feel that their content and specialized symbols aren’t always so easy to transfer over from the convenience of paper and pencil to the uniqueness of a digital environment.

While no solution is even going to be perfect, the good news is that there are many digital tools that can be used in the Google Apps world on Chromebooks, PCs, and Macs, that help address the needs of math students and teachers. In this blog post we are going to highlight 21 such tools. They include Chrome Web Extensions, Chrome Web Apps, and Add-ons for Docs, Sheets, and Forms. In each case they add some extra functionality that is not normally available in the standard Google tools.

Hopefully these tools will help you and your students to learn and explore math more effectively in a digital world. Moreover, many of the extensions, apps, and add-ons will actually increase your students’ options for collaboration, critical thinking, inquiry, and exploration of mathematical concepts.

Entering math expressions

1) Equatio extensionChrome webstore link
Equatio is a Chrome web extension that makes it easier to create and insert mathematical symbols and expressions, as well as scientific formulas when using Google Docs, Forms, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings. With Equatio you can enter math and science writing in five ways: Equation Editor, LaTeX Editor, Handwriting Recognition, Speech Input, and Symbol Galleries.

For more details, see my post "Equatio: Yes You Can Type Math and Science in Google Docs and Forms!" - Blog post link

Geometry and graphing

2) Geogebra Math AppsChrome web app link
GeoGebra is an interactive, dynamic math program that provides tools for geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics and calculus. You can save your creations to Drive, and can access hundreds of thousands of shared resources at https://www.geogebra.org/materials

4) RoboCompassChrome web app link
This web app is a virtual version of geometric constructions. You can select and order commands to use the compass and straightedge to create circles, angles, polygons, bisectors, and other constructions.

5) TinkercadChrome web app link
Tinkercad is a 3D modeling web app that lets you build with a wide range of three-dimensional shapes, and then modify the solids’ size, shape, color, and other attributes. Finished products can be saved and sent to your 3D printer.

7) StatisticsGoogle Sheets add-on link
This is an add-on for Google Sheets that does statistical analysis of your data including summarizing a single variable (histograms, means and standard deviations, and frequency distributions), summarizing the relationships between pairs of variables (scatterplots, contingency tables, stacked boxplots), and fitting a regression model.

8) WebPlotDigitizerChrome web app link
WebPlotDigitizer is a reverse graphing tool. You start by importing any image with a graph or a scale, and then use the web app to identify the graph line and extract the numerical data from image. The tool can also be used on images with a scale to measure simple distance and angles. This is a great to work backwards from a graph to study the underlying data.

9) Random GeneratorGoogle Sheets add-on link
This add-on for Google Sheets can create datasets of random information including numbers, dates, text, true/false, and more. This can be a useful way to generate data when investigating probability and data analysis.

Measuring tools

10) MB-Ruler for ChromeChrome web extension link
This extension gives you a pop-up protractor that overlays your screen. You can move, rotate, and resize the floating protractor as needed to measure any angle. There is also an option to create a resizable grid overlay for your screen.

11) Edge: The Web RulerChrome web app link
This web app launches a floating ruler which can be moved and resized as needed. Options include choice of unit (inches, centimeters, or pixels), vertical or horizontal orientation, and always on top mode.

Calculators

12) CalculatorChrome web app link
This is Google’s official calculator app for Chrome OS. It is a clean and simple calculator with 29-functions for basic arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry and discrete math.

13) GED CalculatorChrome web app link
This is scientific calculator app is unique for its focus on fractions. You can directly enter fractions, as well as perform operations with fractions, convert between fractions and decimals, convert between mixed numbers and fractions, and more.

16) GeoboardChrome web app link
This app provides you with virtual geoboards and rubber bands to make line segments and polygons to investigate perimeter, area, angles, congruence, fractions, and more.

17) Pattern ShapesChrome web app link
This apps gives you unlimited virtual pattern blocks in seven different shapes. Students can place and rotate shapes, build larger shapes, explore symmetry, make patterns, measure angles with a virtual protractor, and more.

18) Number PiecesChrome web app link
With this app you and your students can use virtual base ten unit blocks with ones, tens, and hundreds, to represent multi-digit numbers, regrouping, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.

19) Money PiecesChrome web app link
This web app lets you and your students work with virtual coins and bills including representing money, showing money value as area models, converting money into different units, annotating, and more.

20) FractionsChrome web app link
This web app lets you and your students create fractions with denominators from 1 to 100 using circle and bar shapes. These fraction visualizations can be colored in, labeled, moved, superimposed, and more to represent, compare, and perform operations on the fractions.

Conclusion

Hopefully you have discovered some new tools to try out, or have been reminded of a tool you have been meaning to dig deeper into. Use the comments below to share how you and your students use these tools, as well as share any other of your favorite math extensions, web apps, or add-ons not mentioned in the post.

Spent a ton of time trying to be able to have students create box and whisker plots for their stats project last week- why isn't some of this more easily found. I was able to work around- sort of- but it was a pain for me and the students.

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RoboCompass is best for geometric constructions, You can select and order commands to use the compass and straightedge to create circles, angles, polygons, bisectors, and other constructions. I think it is best for me. Thanks for the list.uc news apk